Emergency situations on board of an aircraft may be characterized by a decompression of the cabin, smoke or fire, wind turbulences and mechanical impacts. Usually, a pilot will seek to conduct a quick emergency descent of the aircraft in such an emergency situation and to reach the closest airport or emergency landing lane. After landing the aircraft, a quick exit of all passengers out of the aircraft is required. Such quick exit may be hindered by smoke and/or insufficient oxygen in the aircraft passenger cabin.
It is known to supply oxygen to passengers in an emergency situation like a decompression situation, smoke or fire in the cabin. For this purpose, oxygen masks drop out of a passenger service unit and oxygen is supplied to the passenger via said oxygen mask. The oxygen mask is connected to the passenger service unit via a connecting line. In the passenger service unit an oxygen source is comprised which stores oxygen and provides said oxygen to the passenger after activation of the oxygen supply. Usually, the passenger can activate the oxygen supply pulling a connecting line wherein said connecting line may be a flexible tube which at the same time serves to direct the oxygen from the passenger service unit to the oxygen mask or maybe a wire or rope or the like distinct from the connecting line. It is known to store oxygen in the passenger service unit in a chemically bound form and to produce said oxygen in a chemical reaction after activation. This type of oxygen source is called chemical oxygen generator (COG). It is further known to store oxygen in a pressurized tank wherein activation of said oxygen source comprises opening a valve or a sealing component to open said pressure tank and allow flow of oxygen out of said tank to the oxygen mask.
Such emergency oxygen devices have shown to be insufficient in certain emergency situations, in particular in case of smoke of fire in the cabin or during the quick exit of the passengers out of the cabin. It is an object of the invention to provide an emergency oxygen supply device for passengers of an aircraft which improves the safety of the passenger in such emergency situations and facilitates the handling of the emergency oxygen supply device by the passenger.